Merry Christmas

[Me hanging out my window the morning after the night of the second snow, just a few days after new years]



For those of you who I didn't get a chance to talk to or who were hiding in the mountains from family, merry Christmas. I had a wonderful time here in Seoul and I know that you all had a great time too.

The Christmas Eve party was what everyone expected it to be. The French-Canadian couple Anne-Marie and Richard had decorated their apartment and turned on a loop of Christmas carols. Richard had prepared oodles of western food in a buffet style. There were lots of our fellow family-less foreigners there to celebrate. We did an exciting version of white elephant gift exchange, and just spent some great time together.

My Christmas day was much less exciting and much more relaxing. Even though I had to get up and tutor English to the heartless rich people, I still got enough sleep and at least made some money. When I came back, Alexis and Xavier and I had a small lunch and a long hike. We went to the mountain behind the Buddhist temple and scaled for about an hour, eventually reaching the top. The view was spectacular, the air so calm and peaceful, and even some remnants of the snow were left. In a way I did get my white Christmas!

Being that Alexis, Xavier, and I had become each other's family over the last few months, we went out to a fancy Christmas dinner together to celebrate the day. The food was delicious and the atmosphere was calm and comfortable. We did a small gift exchange and then went home to watch a movie. Everything was very free and relaxing after such a hectic semester's finals and an increase in private students that really put me under some stress in the end. All things considered I believe that this Christmas ranks about an 8 on the scale of Christmas satisfaction, but is probably the most relaxing and pleasant Christmas day I've known in my short life time. I hope all is well with you guys. Let me know how things went on your end!